Sparking Fires
by MinimusAstrum
Summary: "TEAM AVATAR IS BACK!" Turns out, my best friend is the avatar. This is the story of the new 'Team Avatar'. See prologue for full summary. Takes place after Korra.
1. Prologue

There wasn't an earth bending Avatar. He or she died young (probably 5 to 7ish), before anyone figured out he or she was the Avatar. The world has named that Avatar the Spirit Avatar. Most people didn't know the Spirit Avatar had died though, and after years of waiting, the avatar faded into a distant memory.

From what I've found out, Korra died around 20 years ago. During the gap between when Avatar Korra passed and when the new Avatar would be discovered, society fell into disarray, the world unbalanced. The people in power became tyrants, and the lives of commoners like me changed drastically. Food and power were no longer available. Hospitals eventually shut down, followed by the police. Their (the police) forces became too thin, spreading out to try and cover all of the riots and raids made for human necessities. Since then crime has only increased. Most people moved out of cities and into the countryside, farming for themselves and staying out of danger (for the most part). Disease spread, a nasty plague, wiping out a lot of the world's population. People then started separating back into their element's territories. Fire in the Fire Nation Islands, Earth in the Earth Kingdom, Water in the Southern Ice Villages and the Northern Water Tribe, and Air to Air Temple Island (they stayed where they were, being only about 20 of them).

No one really knows what happened to cause society to fall to pieces. The only explanation is that the Spirit Avatar didn't serve it's time in the world, throwing off the balance of the world. It's surprising how fast things fell apart though. There must have been some serious gouges in the foundations of society before everything came crumbling down. But the leaders of the world just painted over the cracks and moved on with their self-righteous lives (sorry, possible exaggeration). I (nor the rest of the world) know a lot about past history, or fact from fable. But from what I gather, before the GAP (Gone Avatar Period, trust me, I didn't make that up), society was (mostly) fully functioning.

Nowadays, major cities have become more orderly, providing measly food rations and health control (not the same as health care, health control is the act of keeping negative health influences out, it doesn't help people once they are sick). Some even have electricity, and developing new technology (some of which is pretty impressive: moving pictures, long distance talkie things, portable music players, flying vehicles, etc). For the most part though, except for the developing cities, the world has gone backwards in development.

Mostly now all people have is hope. And although new life is usually considered hope, lots of children are orphaned or abandoned, and die infants. Somehow, even though I was either orphaned or abandoned (I can't remember what), I survived. The earliest memory I have is me living in a cave searching for worms and other crawly insects to eat. I was young then. But this isn't unusual. Many children are in the same situation or worse.

So now a word from me to you. There are not many non-benders alive. So sorry to you pro-non-bending-people out there. With most people fending for themselves, you pretty much die without being able to use an element. Me, I migrated down south when I was about seven or so. The villagers don't particularly like having a fire bender around, and I have to be careful of where I bend. Other than that though, I'm doing pretty well.

Oh, and I lied (I tend to do that). I do know who the Avatar is. He's a fire bender. He is the next Avatar after the Spirit Avatar (I think), and no, he has not been hiding from the world. He has been dying, like everybody else (okay, if we were all dying, we would all be dead, but we surely ain't living much either).

By the way, I haven't been dying (lately). And I am not of the male gender. Just putting that out there.

Okay idiots. This story isn't about me. My life is not about how I am the Avatar and I have to save the world from a horrible danger and if I don't the world will end. And no, it is not about how I am in love with the Avatar, and he has this important calling and so we can never have a deeper relationship than friends and how I wish it was going to work out, or any other Sue stories you can think of (and no, my name is not Sue). This, what I am writhing now, is the story of the bravest person I know (okay, he's not that brave, but that just makes him all the braver, doesn't it?), and about how he has to figure out how to take this totally messed up piece of shit world and fix it so that everyone doesn't die or stab each other, and he can't die in the process (possible wee bit of exaggeration there, but I got really excited to make you excited to read the rest of this. And no these are not author notes by the author, because I am the author, and I am writhing these.)


	2. 1: The Lion Otter

**Air, Water, Earth, Fire**

**Book One: Air**

**Chapter One: The Lion Otter**

I lived near one of the Southern Ice Villages at the time. There were several after the GAP, many waterbenders moving southward after bending had been banned from the major cities. I'd heard stories about how there used to be only one, but after what had happened last time large groups of people lived together it was no surprise that the citizens decided to divide into groups.

None of the villagers were particularly fond of outsiders. Each village kept to itself for the most part and traded with the other towns if they needed supplies. Soon the sites all took up a specialty. Matu, the village I considered myself a part of, was known for leatherwork. I made my livelihood hunting and selling hides to the leatherworkers and ferrying the leather to the other villages with the shopkeepers. Despite the work, I was never accepted by them. This was largely caused by me being a firebender and the fact that I could melt any of their homes if they got me angry. The let me come into the town as long as I remained friendly and kept my home outside the snowy walls.

It wasn't a very friendly climate around Matu. It was a flat, snowy plane that was prone to windstorms and blizzards. The waterbenders of the village had raised hills out of ice around the walls to protect the town from the harshest of the weather, and those hills quickly became covered in the snow that the wind would blow up against it. I made my home on the edge of these hills, on the side of the hill that the wind didn't blow. It was a small igloo, but better a home than I had had anywhere else.

Not too far from the village the ocean started under a thick layer of ice. All sorts of sea life lived down there, a whole world beneath your feet. There were breathing holes in the ice where an assortment of seals came up for air, and that's where I hunted. It took patience- something I didn't have much of before I settled here. Almost every day of the year, I would sit in front of a breathing hole. My shadow cast away from the hole, not moving in the slightest, and watching the feather I placed over the hole. As soon as that feather moved, my spear would make sure that there was one less seal in the world.

I would sell my catch, usually small rabbit seals or on occasion a turtle seal, back in Matu. Matu itself consisted of a residential rise, a market rise, a government rise, and a sanctuary dedicated to the moon and ocean spirits. The rises were how the village was built- the outside rise was the highest up, and you'd find yourself climbing stairs all the way down to the sanctuary in the inner circle. The storyteller Atana told me that there used to be a chief, but it became a democratic council not too long before I was born.

Atana was the spiritual leader of Matu, and nearly the only person in the village that I actually talked to on a regular basis. She found me in the Moon Garden when I was younger. I had been exhausted and starving from traveling on the icy plains that I had been ill prepared for. Atana tells me that I wouldn't have lived if I hadn't been a firebender. She's also the reason why I was allowed to stay. Life is taken seriously in the village, but Atana was always telling stories from the time before the GAP. I didn't believe most of them, such as the tales about how the Avatar was reborn or that there could have been a war that lasted 100 years, but she was still a great storyteller and I loved to hear them. Nobody else paid her much attention while I spent hours with her in the Gardens. Back then I hadn't a name, and the locals started saying that I was the next Atana, which was eventually shortened to Tana.

The Moon Gardens had been here for a long time because of some spiritual energy (which I'm sure Atana would have a story about), and the entire town was built around them. The Gardens are where we hold all of our festivities and meetings. It's also has very odd acoustics, which is useful for announcements but frankly quite annoying when you're trying to have a conversation with someone.

Okay, the endless descriptions are not quite part of the tale. You'll be happy to hear (or rather read) that this is where the story starts. My journey's beginning (with the Avatar, of course) was marked on one of the lengthening days in spring, when the blizzards were coming to a halt and the people of Matu beginning to thaw out.

I had been in front of a breathing hole for hours watching the feather (or rather sitting and trying to pretend that my foot didn't itch). Nothing had been taking a breath, and I was beginning to consider that perhaps the seal had drowned underwater and would no longer come up anyway.

The feather shook, and I raised my spear. The spear itself had several yards of rope attached to it, so that I could retrieve it if the seal managed to get away. I was ready to throw the spear, but jumped as the feather blew sideways. It wasn't a windy day- I spent those in a different location so that my feather wouldn't be disturbed. There was nothing moving behind the ice (that I could see, that is. I'm sure there was a seal somewhere, even if had drowned). I felt the hairs stir on the back of my neck. Since this hunt was going to be a bust anyway, I turned to see what was up.  
I quickly took a step back and slid on the ice. Despite being a big, scary, dangerous animal, the lion otter in front of me was also really cute. It had otter whiskers, a pointed otter tail, and sleek fur that was a gray color. This was offset by lion paws that looked too big for its body, a big dark gray mane, and big, sharp teeth. It sniffed at me, looking pitiful. Then the lion otter sat down, looking at me expectantly.

This thing had no survival skills. I'd never actually seen a lion otter in person before, but Atana had told me stories of the fearful creatures. Either Atana had been fabricating her story (likely), or this particular lion otter was an exception. I glanced at the animal, looked back at my spear, then back at the lion otter. I don't know what it was waiting for (perhaps for me to cook myself as its dinner). It certainly looked hungry, but also sort of helpless.

I always had emergency supplies in my pack (which was of course made of leather) in case I got stranded or lost. Too much paranoia due to those months that I spent helpless out on the ice. Blubbered seal jerky, kindling for a fire, a small bedroll (which was quite gross. It was secondhand, made of worn leather and fur, and I would probably never use it even if I did become stranded), and my scarf (which was surprisingly not leather). Without taking my eyes off of the pleading lion otter, I managed to grab the strap of my bag (the bag was dangerously close to the breathing hole). I pulled the jerky pouch out of it, and threw a piece of jerky to the lion otter (the moral of a story that I myself had contributed to Atana's arsenal- don't feed predators. I suppose I hadn't learned my lesson yet). The lion otter snatched it out of the air, and I wondered to myself if it would do tricks like the polar bear dogs that pull sleds between the villages do (though I didn't bother trying). I reached for more jerky, and the eager animal ate it out of my hand before I could even toss it. Soon I shooed the beast (who seemed to be looking for more jerky) off because I had to get back to my hunting before noon came and all the animals moved deeper out into the ocean. The sun was high in the sky though, so I slung my bag across my shoulder and began the trek back home empty-handed.

I scored early the next day (a rabbit seal) before the lion otter made a reappearance. I groaned (which the lion otter seemed to think was an appropriate greeting, seeing as it made a barking-growling noise back). It seemed pleased with itself that it had found me, and it should've been considering the pains I went through to make sure it couldn't. The lion otter had cost me yesterday, both in jerky and in the acquisition of more seals. I didn't even bother going back into Matu and just spent the evening alone trying to patch a hole that had begun to form in the bottom of one of my shoes (no that it mattered, my feet we numb no matter what).

I was basically out of emergency meat after the encounter yesterday, so I took my skinning knife and sliced off a piece of the rabbit seal and threw it at the lion otter.

"Well, fatty, I hope you're happy," I told the lion otter. It tilted its head to the side in the cutest fashion it could manage. "I'm not going to get anything done as long as you're following me." It slid its dark grey tail across the snow happily. The fat beast, wanting my food. I picked up my spear and got ready to leave (to another breathing hole, far, far away). It gave me otter eyes (which are remarkably similar to polar puppy eyes, but on a lion otter), and, well, the thing was cute. Even for a savage, vicious killing machine.

Over the wind I could hear someone yelling. The shouting was far off, saying something like, "Jelloooo! Jello, where the frh frh frh." The yelling caught the otter's attention, and it slid off in that direction (probably to mooch food from them too).

It was that line of thinking that led me to follow the lion otter (was it possible to make a living on the ice by mooching off of others in return for cuteness?). I followed the lion otter further out over the sea, where the ice buckled from the waves. I couldn't quite see where I was going (looked to be the starts of a late blizzard), and soon lost sight of my otter friend.

I was pushed from behind, and slid over the edge of the ice crest backwards.

"Stay away from my lion otter!" my assailant yelled, coming at me from above. I struggled to my feet on the ice. To my surprise, the lion otter's owner firebended (firebent?) at me. It was certainly fire, though it looked completely different than my own. His (I could tell from the voice that this was a male) fire shot off bright sparks and otherwise went everywhere. Of course, he was a much better bender than me. I couldn't do much more than shoot little spheres of fire, which I promptly did in retaliation. He looked surprised.

He had a good reason to be. I had been living here for years and was dressed like a waterbender or someone from the village. Parka, leather bag, giant boots. I also had dark hair like the majority of them. Theirs was a dark brown for the most part (mine was black), but there was one girl in Matu with yellow hair. The only thing that gave away that I wasn't from the ice villages was my eyes, a hazel, which were more common in the warm regions around the equator.  
The firebending lion otter owner was obviously not from around here. His coat was too thin to actually keep out the cold, and he a knife in his belt (in the Ice Villages we use spears to hunt), although it could be used for self-defense against other humans.. His hair was dark and tangled; he was fairly tall and muscular. It wasn't the kind of muscular you get around here. His skin was about the same tone as mine, but mine was smooth (not really, though I'd never admit it to myself) while he had gross teenage boy skin. But his eyes were blue, so maybe he did have ancestors around here.

This stranger didn't seem to like me.

"My lion otter isn't food! Back off!" So this was _his_ otter?

"I wasn't! I was feeding him!" I yelled over the wind. The firebender looked confused. I took this as an opportunity to slide over to my pack and scoop it up.  
"Where are you going?" he asked me as I climbed up the side of the ice crest. I almost didn't answer him, but I remembered the awful weeks that I spent in this icy wasteland. It had been years and I still had strange, cold dreams about it during the night.

"There's a town, about an hour's walk north," I shouted over my shoulder. The wind was blowing sideways now, whistling off of the icy crests. It would probably be snowing back near the village already. I needed to hurry.

I lost sight of the stranger as I rounded corners around the frozen waves. There was no way to know if he was following me, but I continued back to Matu.

Matu was a busy place during snowstorms. It was dangerous to be outside of the village walls, which protected us from the mostly horizontal falling snow, during a blizzard, so the villages took the time to run errands, socialize, or whatever else there was to do (I usually stayed at my igloo, trying to avoid friendly human contact).

But today I was on the western side of the market rise, trying to deal with the shoemaker (she was the best in Matu, but gave everyone evil eyes when they talked to her), who insisted on me buying new shoes. All I wanted her to do was fix the hole in them. Eventually I gave up and left, replacing the shoe on my foot.  
I looked up and could see the snow blowing far above the hills surrounding Matu. It blocked out the sun, so the torches had been lit about noon. There were excited voices to be heard at the end of the market rise. Earlier today while I was out hunting, one of the sled runners who had been sent out months before had returned. Most of the village had gone to greet them.

I had originally been offered a position in the three-sled caravan, but was replaced by someone's new girlfriend (the polar bear dogs didn't like me anyway, so no hard feelings). Two of the sleds had returned last week, bringing money for many of the leather shops plus wares to sell. The sled that returned today had held back because there had been an important message getting delivered to the biggest Ice Village, Siku, and they wanted to deliver the message to Matu. Siku, and most of the other villages, is located on the western side of the continent, while Matu is in the east. Besides the sleds, we don't hear much from the other villagers.

As expected, the town horn sounded (I don't know what they made the horn from, but it sounded almost painful and hurt your ears). I made my way back to the north of the market rise and descended the staircase down to the Moon Pavilion, the place in the Moon Gardens where meetings were held. People were quickly gathering in the area, so I hurried and managed to push my way in front before the crowd became too thick.

Atana was the one making the announcement. She usually did (blessed with a wonderful reading voice, Atana could also be very loud). The scroll was passed from the head sled pilot to Atana, who stood on the stage wearing her long purple robes. Her hair was white from age and worn in a very long braid. When the scroll was passed over, a hush settled on the crowd.

I sat on the edge of Atana's stage and scanned the crowd. All eyes were on her, aside from that of the chieftains' (they must have already known the contents of the message. From the looks of it, War Minister Myko had told his daughter as well. His daughter was the one person I have ever seen with yellow hair, and she was visibly squirming in her seat). The other person who wasn't paying attention was the one who stuck out like a sore thumb in his brown coat- the firebender with the lion otter. Instead of looking at Atana, he squinted at me. I looked back at him, and he quickly moved his gaze to Atana as she cleared her throat.

"Attention name of village," Atana read, then quickly corrected, "Attention Citizens of Matu. The Great metalbender Rael asks that each village sends a representative to the great city of Ba Sing Se. Each village will be rewarded for their efforts and presented with a great opportunity. This may restore the world to its former glory! The representative will be required to come to the Government Hall on the eve of the Summer Solstice." She rolled up the scroll. There was a pause as people comprehended what Atana had said.

The city of Ba Sing Se was off limits for benders as far as any of us had known (it, as well as Republic City, had been closed to us since the GAP). It was unusual that anybody would request an audience from a village in arctic and even more so that a metalbender was in Ba Sing Se, which was a no-bender zone.

Protests started to whip up in front of me. We need more food! … No, we're self-sufficient! … He wants to restore the world! … It's pointless anyway… We can't spare the people (we had had a particularly harsh winter and the Honee village was on our tails about some sort of debt). … Who could we even spare for the journey?

War Minister Myko's daughter immediately shot up at this last statement, the sudden movement causing pieces of her sun colored hair to fall out her bun, held by a seashell pick. All eyes turned to her as she climbed up onto the stage.

"I volunteer to go as the representative!" she announced in a high, clear voice. Her father didn't looked too pleased, though he must've known because he didn't say anything. The Defense Minister didn't seem to agree.

"The last thing we need is more waterbenders to leave us," she said over the crowd, "and she's too young to go alone anyway." I caught movement from Atana. I looked backwards at her and she made eye contact with me (I should mention that she's in charge of me, since I don't "belong" here).

"Tana will accompany Kayoka to Ba Sing Se if the elected Ministers will allow it," Atana announced. I wasn't surprised, since she had volunteered me for journeys before (all of which had stayed within the arctic circle of course). The shoe cobbler with the evil eyes decided to speak up next.

"What should we do about the other outsider? He owes me as well as many other shopkeepers for his supplies. I, for one, wouldn't mind if we sent him out of our village with those two as a payment," she said as she made evil eyes at the crowd, daring anyone to disagree with her.

"There's no way to tell if he would attack them or flee as soon as they leave," the Defense Minister responded. Evil Eyes pushed her way over to the fire bender, grabbing something from around his neck. He struggled for a moment, choking, before she managed to break the chain.

"This necklace," Evil Eyes began, "does not belong to a warrior (He would later defend that it was a very manly necklace), and if a warrior wears it, the necklace must be important." She shoved him up towards the stage and pocketed the necklace before I got a good look at it.

"He may have the necklace upon his return, and in addition he has a lion otter to travel on. Bryka will supply a saddle that will seat the three of them," she said as he mounted the stage. Atana nodded, gesturing to the three of us.

"They depart tomorrow," she announced, "Meeting dismissed."

Few departed the Pavilion, many stayed to chat with their neighbors. Atana walked out of the lamplight and disappeared into the Moon Garden. Kayoka hurried after her, though I knew where Atana was headed. I turned around to the outsider.

"This way," I said, gesturing for him to follow. He took one last look at the crowd before coming after me.

I stalked out of the lighted pavilion and into the dark garden. There were torches on occasion, but only in clearings. I could hear the outsider behind me, stumbling into the bushes every few seconds. Even though it was the middle afternoon, it was nearly pitch black in the gardens because of the blizzards and the shadows from the ice hills.

We came to the torch that marked Atana's house soon enough. I lifted the metal seal (looks like one of the manhole covers in the cities, though don't ever mistake those as good places. Did that once when I was little, and smelled like the sewers for days.) and moved aside so that the outsider could go down the staircase. He looked at it suspiciously before descending; I followed and closed the cover above us.

As soon as the light from above was extinguished, the glow could be seen from the bottom of the spiral staircase. It blinked in and out as the stranger went down.

When we got to the bottom of the stairs Atana and Kayoka were waiting near the fire. Seats surrounded it in a circle, with two hallways leading off into the darkness. The walls were made of ice, yet were never too cold.

"Make yourselves at home," Atana told us. It basically already was my home, and I sat on the fur near the fire that was my usual position. Kayoka eagerly sat crossed legged beside me, Atana on the other side. The outsider leaned against the wall, and then thinking better of standing the entire time, slid down into a sitting position. There was a pause.

"So, who are you?" Kayoka asked, talking really fast. "Well, I know who Tana is. She's the crazy firebender who lives out in the snow. Oh! And of course I know Atana is- that's obvious." Kayoka turned her vision to the outsider, who looked very uncomfortable. I would be too.

"Where are you from? Are you a bender? I've always wanted to meet an earthbender. I heard that the first earthbenders learned from these GIANT moles because they had secrets and stuff and it's a cool story and I think Atana told it to me but I can't remember the whole thing and-"

"That's enough," Atana said, not unkindly. Kayoka took a deep breath.

"…sorry," she said.

"What's your name?" I asked him. He sort of glared at me. Very hostile. "Well, if you want, I could call you Wang Fire (a character from a story that Atana told me, about some man who was hiding in the fire nation back before the GAP. I think Atana made it up on the spot.) if you wanted." Atana caught the reference and smiled before trying to apologize for me.

"Tana, I ask that you remember that not everyone has a name, or at least one that they may want to share. You did not when you came to Matu, so do not be so quick to judge."

"Fine," I said to her, before looking back at the outsider, "I'm sure we'll think of something less derogatory." Another lull in the conversation.

"Is he… mute?" Kayoka asked. "The man who lives next door to me is mute. His wife said that he lost his voice after their daughter died. Maybe it's because of your journey- did the ice damage your voice? Is that even possible? One time I went out into the ice and got lost and…" I sort of zoned out after that. No wonder the War Minister let his daughter on this trip- she was like a chatty monkey. Atana listened patiently, most likely listening for more story material. The outsider and I made faces at each other for a while. Kayoka went off on random tangents and was saying something about how she doesn't understand why sea prunes are usually stewed because it evidently tasted bad when the outsider got up.

When he rose, sparks skittered from the fire and flew into the air and up towards the chimney (or really just a hole in the ceiling). Kayoka and I flinched back, though Atana didn't move.

"I have to go feed my lion otter," he said, leaving the room and going towards the staircase.

"He talks!" Kayoka exclaimed. Atana waited as he began to climb out of her home.

"I've never seen firebending like his," I told Atana as Kayoka listened closely. "He was out over the frozen ocean this morning, and all of his firebending shoots off sparks."

Atana nodded, thinking.

"Firebending often reflects the user's personality or mastery of the skill, though it is beyond me why his would create sparks like that. I have only heard about how some masters can control the intensity and properties, which can change the color."

"That's it!" Kayoka said excitedly, leaning forward as her headband fell into her eyes. "We can call him Sparks! Cause, you know, he shoots off sparks when he firebends."

There was a boom that echoed down the staircase as the hatch was shut.

"Does he really have a lion otter?" Kayoka asked as I started to leave the room. I wanted no part in any conversation with her. She'd already given me a headache and we hadn't even left on our journey yet. Who knows how many hours I'd have to put up with it, so may as well enjoy my time now. I went towards Atana's spare bedroom that had several hammocks in it. As I moved down the hall I caught a last bit of Kayoka's talking. "I am SO excited. I'll get to see the world! Where do you think Sparks is from? He's cute."

To my relief, I couldn't hear her from the bedroom.

We met at the gate out of the city (which was created in the valley between two of the bigger ice hills) the next morning. Kayoka seemed like she was about to burst, while Sparks (his official name now because of Kayoka) looked less than eager. Atana came up to me while Sparks attached bags to his lion otter's new saddle.

"Bring me back more stories to tell, Tana," she said to me, resting her hand on my shoulder, "and do not lose your way home." I had never really considered this to by my home. Sure I had a house that I had even stopped at this morning to gather my things, but I hadn't even realized that anybody here would be sad if I moved on.

I was about to reply but was interrupted by Kayoka, who took the fact that someone was talking as her cue for an outburst.

"Of course there will be stories! This is going to be soooo awesome!" I frowned at her. I had a hunch that she'd never been far away from Matu before.

"Okay," Sparks said, "the stuff is loaded onto Juo's saddle. Where's the map?" he asked.

"I have it," I informed him while walking over to Juo the lion otter.

"Well… I need it," he told me.

"I'm perfectly fine holding on to it."

"You don't even know where we're going," he sounded exasperated.

"Yes I do. You're the one who would be lost in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere if I hadn't told you where to go."

"I don't need a backseat driver," he argued, pushing his messy hair out of his face, "and Juo is my lion otter. Therefore, the map is mine."

"Don't fight, you two," Kayoka chimed in. "Not a very good way to start our mission." Why did I agree to let her be part of the group? Oh, yeah, I didn't. That was Atana, who, as I should add, was walking back into the gates of Matu.

Kayoka stole the map from me. She would've been a backseat driver no matter if she had the map or not. We boarded Juo, Sparks taking the front seat. I quickly took the back, so that Kayoka's infernal chattering wouldn't be directly into my ear the entire time.

With everyone seated, the lion otter took off over the ice, and our journey began.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, Legend of Korra, or Jell-O. I do own Lion Otters, all of my characters, and the Southern Ice Villages.**

**Thank you to SomniumAstrum, who helped me with plot, names, and editing, and tsuki-no-taiyo, who was the first person to review my story.**


	3. 2: Willo the Wisps

**Air, Water, Earth, Fire**

**Book One: Air**

**Chapter 2: Willo-the-Wisps**

We rode north for a while (I tried not to listen to Kayoka, who was still chattering away), and finally reached the landmark that signaled the end of Matu territory, the hills of snow and ice that eventually formed mountains. At best the mountains were hard to cross. The mountain range, called the Juaang Mountains, surrounded Matu. The sled runners would therefore travel in the winter, when the coastal ice would take them around the mountains.

"Oh-my-Yue, look! There's the mountains!" Kayoka exclaimed, pointing (I almost did a face palm- the mountains had been in view the whole time). "I've never been this far from home-"

"You've never been _away_ from home," I interjected. Kayoka just kept rambling. I wasn't sure how Sparks was able to put up with it. In the two hours since we had left, Kayoka had barely stopped to take a breath (I was hoping she would talk too fast and bite off her tongue). But Sparks hadn't said a word to her (and he didn't seem like he was ready to punch her face in).

Eventually the wind picked up, drowning out Kayoka's voice and the view of the mountains. We had almost reached the shore when Sparks halted Juo, turning his head back to us. "We have to stop for a break before Juo swims. He needs to eat." Sparks announced, not looking at either of us, but in the middle of our two heads. Then he hopped of Juo and motioned us to do the same. I stayed put.

"So now you let Juo eat?" I said accusingly. Kayoka jumped off, falling almost on top of Sparks. He pulled her off of him while she giggled uncontrollably. I couldn't take them anymore. "I'm going to hunt," I told them, dismounting Juo on the opposite side and disappearing into the white blanket of snow that surrounded Juo.

I wasn't familiar with the area, and it took me a good while to find a breathing hole. As I approached it, I found it was covered with a layer of ice and snow, sealing it shut. No animals would be using it this late in the season, I reasoned. The coastal ice was beginning to break away, and the hole was too close to shore. There would be breathing holes farther inland, but with the mountains my back, it would take hours to find one. In defeat I walked back to the spot where we had stopped.

The only thing that marked our stopping point was Juo's saddle, which had been (apparently) taken off of the beast so it could hunt. The saddle had three straps, on for around Juo's neck, one for around his ribs, and one for his belly. Juo was the one member of our group that I could actually put up with. I liked the beast a lot. Sparks wasn't annoying like Kayoka, but it got on my nerves when he acted like the boss. Partly because I knew he had better leadership skills than myself, but partly because he knew nothing about the arctic. Out of the three of us (not including Juo), I was the only one who was experienced in arctic travel (I figured Kayoka had more experience with the arctic itself, since she had lived here her whole life, but in the traveling sense, I was the expert).

I wondered where Kayoka and Sparks were, but immediately stopped, the possibilities too horrifying. They were probably making out or something even more graphic (actually, Sparks would probably be horrified too, since even appropriate human contact seemed to unnerve him). Then another possibility popped into my head: maybe Sparks took Kayoka away so that he could get rid of her and we would be able to continue the journey to the city of Ba Sing Se in peace. I liked that one much, much more. Crossing my fingers, I waited for Sparks to return.

Sure enough, he did, alone (except for the dead seal he was carrying. I wondered how he caught it with no spear). "Where's Kayoka," I asked as innocently as possible.

"She isn't here?" I thought Sparks was just playing along, but he freaked out a second later. "I told her not to go off on her own!" he exclaimed, stomping his foot down, which created an explosion of sparks and a rather impressive puddle. "Does she ever _listen_?"

"No," I answered, disappointed.

"That was a rhetorical question," Sparks spat at me. "We are going to have to find her before the blizzard gets any worse," he continued.

"We have to go find her?" I asked in utter disbelief.

"Of course, are you insane?" Sparks raised his hand at me (I thought he was going to slap me. I had been in plenty of fights when I was little, mostly to get food, but never slapped upside the face). He looked outraged (not that he hadn't before, but even more so now).

"I just thought it would be more peaceful without her," I said, bracing myself for a fight (Sparks looked ready to take off my head).

"NO!" Sparks shouted, shooting fire at me (by this point he had dropped the dead seal). I shot some back, dissipating his into sparks. "We can't just leave her!" He shouted (this is actually sort of funny, all the shouting. We could barely hear each other over the wind, but it just seems over dramatic now).

"Why not? She's just gonna slow us down!" I said (or shouted), aiming fire at his head.

Sparks ducked out of the way. "It's our job to protect her!" he replied (still shouting). He countered by spinning around and firebending out of his foot. I jumped up in surprise and firebent the fire, leaving a giant gash in the ice (which was probably a real hazard. So was an angry Sparks, apparently).

"Who says?" I retorted. Sparks jumped up into the air, spinning around and making a giant whirlwind of sparks and fire.

"I said." He told me (quite dramatically, I must say), landing in the giant puddle he had just created. Of course, the ice cracked under him. I shot my hand out and he grabbed my wrist just as the ice below him fell away (along with the seal). I dug into the ice with my boots and pulled him up, grunting.

"Thanks," Sparks panted, lying on the ice.

"No problem," I told him, and I meant it (which was a totally new feeling for me).

"I guess I owe you," Sparks said, getting up. Something else had caught my attention though. A light had just become visible off in the distance. Sparks noticed the light as well. "Kayoka!" he called, running in the direction of the light. I sighed, following him. Of course Kayoka would show up _after_ the fight and Sparks almost drowning.

As we got closer, I could see the light wobble and bounce, giving it the appearance of floating. Then the light disappeared. Sparks stopped running, and I bumped into his back (I quickly moved out of Sparks' personal bubble). "Where did she go?" he asked, almost mystified. He looked around, stopped, and squinted. Then he spotted the light again, 90 degrees to the right. He followed it, but every time we got close it moved farther away.

"Stop playing, Kayoka!" I demanded. "We have to leave!" The light kept twisting and turning, luring us farther in the opposite direction. Sparks was so fixated on the light that he almost tripped over Kayoka's body. Sparks jumped back, knocking me onto my butt.

Sparks went to bend down over Kayoka's still body, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "It could be a trap," I hissed. Sparks tried to pull away. "Didn't you notice the light was farther off than Kayoka?"

Sparks didn't listen, squirming out of my grasp. He knelt down and checked Kayoka's pulse. "She's still alive," he stated, "But her breathing is shallow."

I knelt down and examined Kayoka. "It's almost as if she's sleeping," I muttered. There were little beads of ice covering her eyelashes, and her lips were purple. Her hair buns were white with snow. She looked kind of like how the dead are prepared in Matu before their burial.

Sparks got up, dusting the snow off of his pants (they were a material I had never seen before, sort of like metal, but it acted like cloth. Atana had called them 'ski' pants). "Stay here and keep her warm," he instructed. "I'm going to get help. And don't move her!" With that he disappeared into the distance, toward the direction of Matu. I had nothing left to do but heat Kayoka's body with fire (I still wished she had been dead). Eventually Juo found me and lay down next to me so his back pressed against my hip. He purred, making my whole torso vibrate.

Sparks ran until he was sure he was out of sight. Then he sat down on the ice, wincing from the cold on his butt. He was only wearing pants (blue canvas material), with ski pants over top (made out of synthetic material), and the cold bit right through it. He would have to make the journey quick, or else risk getting frostbite on his ass (which would be quite humorous). Sparks had only gone into the spirit world once before, by accident on the winter solstice. He had been practicing breathing exercises before a fire tournament (sport played where opponents use firebending moves to tackle each other to the ground, but no actual bending is used. Atana told me there are tournaments for all of the elements, the sport becoming popular after the Equalist movement during Korra's time. Later I witnessed one in- well I can't tell you any more without revealing what's to come later in our adventure. I'd better stop my tangent here) when he slipped into the Spirit world. That's when Sparks first realized he was the Avatar. He had heard stories about the avatar, but never believed them to be true. Being afraid of the responsibility and expectations of the avatar, he never told anyone, and eventually ran away (more detail about all this later. Now back to entering the spirit world).

Now Sparks breathed carefully again, in through his nose for two seconds, out of his mouth for two seconds. He closed his eyes, waited for a while, and then opened them. Nothing around him appeared to be different, but Sparks knew that the only difference between the normal world and the spirit world was bending. He lifted a hand and shot fire out of it, extremely unsatisfied. He was fairly sure that Kayoka had somehow gotten herself into the spirit world, unless she has gone into a coma for no apparent reason. Sparks folded his legs up again, and went back to meditating. "Spirits of past avatars, guide me into the spirit world," he mumbled. He had been told when he was little that the avatar was actually just reincarnations of itself. The reincarnations would give the current avatar power, and help him or her keep the world in balance. Perhaps an avatar spirit could help him save Kayoka.

Sparks opened his eyes to find a woman sitting across from her (of course she was dressed for proper polar weather). It had actually worked!

"I am avatar Korra," she said. "When I was in training, I found the spiritual side of being the avatar difficult. Through time and lots of practice though, I became a master."

"I don't have time!" Sparks told the avatar. "I have to save my friend."

"Let me finish," Avatar Korra told Sparks. "However, you seem to not have that problem. I will only give you this piece of advice: Spirits are hundreds of thousands of years old. They have much more experience than you. Some may help you, as I do now, but some others are manipulative and will try to harm you, such as the face stealer Koh. Be careful when traveling in the spirit world. The fate of the world rests on your shoulders." Avatar Korra faded from view.

Avatar Korra's advice didn't sit well with Sparks. He hadn't called on the past avatars to remind him of his duty to the world. 'She didn't even tell me how to get into the spirit world,' Sparks muttered to himself. And what was that Koh spirit she referred to. Something about stealing faces. Sparks had never heard of it before, but he certainly didn't want his face stolen. Kayoka was in even more trouble than he had thought, since she didn't know the dangers of the spirit world (or that she was in the spirit world at all).

Sparks growled, cursing avatar Korra's spirit, but then stopped. Avatar Korra had told him that some spirits in the spirit world would help him, like herself. If she was in the spirit world… Sparks tested his bending, finding it to not work (he allowed himself a short smile of triumph, a facial expression Sparks doesn't usually wear).

Now that he had gotten into the spirit world, Sparks didn't really have a course of action. He didn't see Kayoka anywhere, and searching for her would take much longer with only him to look. He had to be quick, for Kayoka's sake and his own (he didn't have me warming him up. During Spark's whole escapade to the spirit word, I had a very important job).

Sparks figured that Kayoka wouldn't know she was in the spirit world, and she would go back to where Juo's saddle was, looking for him and me. The only problem was that Sparks didn't know where Juo's saddle was. The strange light had lured him all over the place, and he didn't know where he was in relation to their stopping point. He couldn't see the mountains or any other reference point, the blizzard enveloping everything in a milky veil. "Kayoka!" Sparks called at the top of his voice. All he heard was the howling of the winds. Starting into a run, he headed in the opposite direction he came, back to where Kayoka's body was, calling Kayoka's name.

Sparks could just see a mass on the ice ahead of him. Running up, he saw it was me, warming Kayoka with little jets of flame. He breathed a sigh of relief (he didn't think I was actually going to follow his instructions. I didn't either, but I suppose my conscious got the better of me. Yes, I do have a conscious, I just ignore for the most part. It's not a handy tool for survival). Sparks wondered how he was going to explain he reappearance without any help for Kayoka. After a moment of considering this, he realized that I couldn't see him (apparently I was obliviously signing a village tune and bobbing my head to the beat, looking off into the distance). He bent down to poke Kayoka, thinking maybe she hadn't left her body, but his finger went right through her arm. Jumping back in surprise, he got up and continued on. "Kayoka! Kayoka!" he called.

Sparks doubted he would ever find Kayoka in the blizzard conditions. He couldn't see more than twenty feet in front of him, and couldn't hear anything above the howling winds. He didn't know if he was going in the right direction at all, so he was careful to check that the ice wouldn't fall out from under him (he wasn't sure how close he was to the shore, and wasn't keen on repeating the incident from earlier that day).

Out of breath, Sparks paused to take a break. The winds seemed to be dying down, but he was as tired as ever. As he started walking again, Sparks noticed he was walking slightly uphill. 'I must be at the mountains," he thought. Reflecting back, Sparks couldn't remember when he started going uphill. Kayoka definitely wouldn't go to the mountains to find them (unless she was as lost as Sparks), and Sparks was just about to turn around when he caught a glimpse of something between the gusts of snow. Up the hillside a little bit was a large mass. Perhaps it was Kayoka after all.

As Sparks got closer, he realized that it was much bigger than a human being. It was in fact a tree (Sparks wondered why there was a tree on the side of a mountain in the arctic). The tree was twisted, its limbs hanging down with the weight of the ice. Sparks thought the tree would fit better in a land for the dead (although Sparks actually was in the land of dead, being in the spirit world. The tree would be better in a spookier setting. Still, it looked foreboding).

"I wouldn't venture there if I were you," a voice said from behind Sparks. Sparks tuned around in flash, hands out to firebend (in the moment he had forgotten his bending didn't work). There was an old lady standing behind him. Her figure sort of wavered with the wind.

"Why not?" Sparks challenged.

"The spirit who makes its lair there has no business with you. He only has time for one visitor today." The old lady gave a sweet smile, almost too sweet. The lady was in classic Ice Village attire: blue hide parka, blue hide pants tucked into hide boots, blue hide gloves (when I first moved to Matu, I didn't understand why everyone wore blue. Later I learned it was to symbolize where the wearer coms from- all Southern Ice villages and the Northern Water Tribe wear blue, as their element is water). Her hair was done in the old traditional style for water benders: hair loopes that tied back into a bun. This is the way Atana does her hair, and many of the other older inhabitants of Matu.

Sparks stared at the woman, the gears turning in his head. "How do you know?" he asked the lady. "How do you know he's too busy?" A knot was forming in his stomach. The warning that Avatar Korra gave him resurfaced, and with it an image of Kayoka without a face (could you even live without a face?).

"It has nothing to do with you," the woman insisted. Sparks went to turn around, but found that his feet were iced to the ground. The woman just kept smiling at him.

"Let me go! Why are you doing this to me?" Sparks shouted at her, trying to pull his feet out of the ice.

"She must face her destiny. There is no hope with her alive." The woman looked at him in earnest.

Sparks grabbed the woman's arms and shook her. "What have you done to Kayoka?" he demanded. The woman looked startled, but quickly recovered. Ice shot up his left leg, sealing it to the ground. The woman smiled and faded away.

Releasing a cry of anger, Sparks tried to pull his leg free, but it was no use. That woman had definitely sent Kayoka to get killed. Pulling his dagger out of his belt, he furiously chipped away at the ice. "Kayoka! Kayoka!" he called, hoping to get her attention (if she wasn't already in the spirit's lair).

"Sparks!" came a squealing voice as Kayoka rushed up to him. "I was so worried that something was wrong with me, no one would answer me, and I thought you were mad or something- what happened to your leg?" Sparks leg was still mostly encased with ice, and he had cut himself a couple times chipping off the ice.

"Tha-" Sparks started to explain, but Kayoka cut him off. "I'll help you," she told him, grabbing the dagger out of his hand. She began to pry away the ice gingerly. "How did this happen to you? I once saw a polar bear dog's leg stuck like this in a puddle. It was named Icecap, and it was the most adorable thing."

"Would you hurry up," Sparks said through clenched teeth. "We don't have much time."

"That's what the lady said!" Kayoka exclaimed. "She said that I had to get out of a 'spirit world' whatever that is, and I had to go see a spirit named Koh, who would take back to you guys."

"A spirit named what?" Sparks demanded.

"Koh. He stays in that tree over there, and I was going to go to him for help, but then I heard you." Sparks pulled the rest of his leg free from the ice.

"Come on." Sparks dragged Kayoka down the mountain, while she chattered away.

Kayoka moved from underneath me (I had been sitting on her to keep my butt warm). "And I ipped, then he augh 'ee an I lau.." She murmured. Suddenly she opened her eyes, staring right at me (it was quite awkward, since I was sitting on her. I quickly moved off).

"Glad you finally woke up," I muttered.

"Sparks saved me!" Kayoka exclaimed. "He was all like, 'I can save you Kayoka!' It was so romantic." Kayoka got a dreamy look on her face while I gagged.

"Sparks went to go get help. He didn't save you," I informed Kayoka (after getting my gag reflex back under control). Disappointment didn't slow her down for long.

"Was I dreaming then?" She asked me. "If so, that was a weird dream. Come to think of it, I don't think I've dreamt in a while. Is it just a coincidence that my first dream in so long has had Sparks saving me? It must be a sign!"

"Is it a coincidence that your face is going to be punched in?" I asked her straight faced. Kayoka ignored me.

"I was just following the light, wondering who was out here. I thought it might also be one of those angler fish with the lights on their heads, but I didn't know why it would be out of water during a blizzard." Kayoka looked at me, my face full of concern (for her mental health). "Anyways, back to the story (I made an 'ugh' sound, but Kayoka ignored it). I followed the light, but it turned out to be just a light. Imagine that! Here I was, expecting it to be something fancy like a person or a fish, but it was just a light! How silly (at this point I was hoping Sparks was telepathic and could hear my pleas for help)! I touched the light, cause maybe it would tickle, which would be funny, and it vanished, which made me sad because I thought I had hurt it's feelings."

"Wait," I interjected. "You said the light vanished?"

"Yeah, just 'pft'. But then I saw another one farther into the distance. I started running to catch up to it, but it vanished like the first one. So I started walking back to where Juo's saddle was, because I figured you would be mad at me if you found I was gone. Along the way I saw Sparks, he was carrying a seal, but he didn't see me, so I called out to him, but he still didn't notice me. I figured it was the wind, so I ran up to him, but he didn't acknowledge me. I thought he was mad at me, because I hadn't listened to when he told me to stay at Juo's saddle. I got real sad, because the last thing I wanted was Sparks-"

"Kayoka!" I said, drawing her attention back to the story (I would have already tuned out, but something in her story caught my attention).

"Oh sorry! As I was saying, I got right up to Spark's face, and then he just walked through me! So I got scared, like what was happening to me, so I ran around trying to find you, but I got lost, but then I found a lady, who was real old and had so many wrinkles it was unhealthy, and she told me that if I wanted things to go back to normal I had to talk to a person who lives under a tree on the mountain, so I want there, and I was about to see the dude, but then I heard commotion behind me, and I turned around and squinted because it was hard to see, and then I heard my name called by Sparks and so I ran to him and he saved me!" Kayoka took a huge breath and looked at me expectantly.

"Kayoka," I began. "I think those lights were willo-the-wisps."

"Willowey-whatsits?" Kayoka started to blab again, but I hit her. "OUCH! THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!" she cried.

"Just listen to me for once, okay? No talking!" Kayoka nodded her head, looking frightened. "Atana told me a story about willo-the-wisps once (Kayoka rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything). The once was a villager name Nami, wait, it was Kami. The villager was out hunting during a blizzard I think, and she saw a light. She followed it, because she was very courageous. No, that's not right… she was curious. And when she touched the light she was trans-"

"SPARKS!" Kayoka flung herself onto Sparks (and action I was quite sick of).

"It started to get dark, and I didn't want to leave you all alone," he explained, stumbling on the words. "I see that's not the case," Sparks said, peeling Kayoka off of him. He went over and grabbed Juo's saddle, lifting it onto the sleeping lion otter. Juo moaned and stood up, yawning. Kayoka yawned as well, causing me to yawn, and then Sparks. Kayoka yawned again. "Get on," Sparks instructed, breaking up the yawn fest.

"But I'm tired! Can't we stay and rest?" Kayoka complained.

"No." Sparks leapt up onto Juo, pulling Kayoka up after him. I scrambled up the otter's leg and settled into my seat. Sparks made a whistling sound, and Juo bounded across the ice. Kayoka began snoring loudly in front of me, and Sparks head kept drooping only for him to shoot up straight again.

"I can take the front, if you want to sleep," I told Sparks.

"Okay." I think Sparks was too tired to argue. Although I was tired as well, there was no way I would fall asleep on Juo's back, and in the front I would have the position of power. Juo halted, and Sparks and I traded places. Kayoka murmured something in her sleep, but it came out like a 'vrmmurmurm', because her face was squashed against her hands, which were laid on top of the handhold in front of her (although it disappointed me, she wouldn't fall out- there was a strap around her waist and thighs that held her in place on the saddle). "When we get to the ocean, tell Juo to swim, he told me as he passed. Once we were all strapped in I whistled, and Juo started out towards the shore once again.

**Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA or LOK. **

**Sorry that took so long. I'd like to say I have an excuse, but I was really just being lazy. I promise I will works harder to get the next chapter up in a respectable time frame.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to SomniumAstrum, who gave me the idea for this chapter.**

**If anyone has an idea for a good title for this fic, please tell me in a review or PM me, because I suck at titles, and there are a ton of fics with very similar names (all romance stories .).**

**Check out my deviantART, ** **(MinimusAstrum),** **there are drawings and a map pertaining to this story (plus a picture of Mako with Hogwarts robes on).**

**Review (and sorry for the long AN, since it took me so long to write this chapter, there was a lot more stuff I had to put in the AN)!**


	4. 3: Advice

**Air, Water, Earth, Fire**

**Book One: Air**

**Chapter 3: Advice**

I was very thankful that Kayoka didn't wake up when Juo started swimming (especially since he jumped into the freezing ocean. I figured that he would slide in or something more graceful, but no, he jumped in flat on his belly).

It was a funny feeling being on Juo's back while he was swimming. He would pull the water back with his front paws, then push his back paws out and glide, then do the motion over again. The result was a jerk forward then a slow glide, then another jerk. I figured it would be a good idea to strap myself into the saddle or risk getting thrown off. I foresaw a lot of complaining on Kayoka's part when she woke up.

Sparks woke up when Juo started swimming, but he only readjusted his position in the saddle muttering something about water. He went back to sleep, his body moving along with Juo's jerks. I soon became bored. There was nothing to see but water, and no one to talk to (or ignore), and nothing else to occupy myself with. I was too tired to think about anything properly, and am sad to say I made up a (horrid) story to occupy myself: Two lovers were separated by their choice for a pet. The girl wanted a kangaroo bat, while the boy wanted a ferocious lizard-eater bat. The man decided to kill all of the kangaroo bats, and the woman killed all of the lizard eating bats. But the woman looked like a lizard herself, and so she was eaten by the lizard-eater bat. Then the man got depressed and married a farm girl who didn't have a name (at this point I was starting to fall asleep).

Next thing I knew Sparks was yelling at me. "Tana! Wake up! You weren't supposed to sleep!" I bolted upright. The sun was just staring to creep out from behind the horizon.

"I wasn't sleeping, I was, erm, looking at the saddle closely." Sparks raised an eyebrow at me (he could see me over Kayoka, who had somehow managed to curl herself into a ball while strapped into the saddle).

"You have drool on your face," he pointed out. I quickly wiped it away. Sparks handed me the map. "We are going to be here soon," he pointed to a set of mountains in the middle of the sea between the South Pole and the Earth Kingdom, "we might find a place to stop."

"Why are you telling me this" I asked him. "I thought you were the 'captain'?"

"Just wanted to let you know what was going on," he muttered.

We rode a little while in silence, and then I said, "There's nothing to do…." I didn't really expect a reply from Sparks; I just wanted to give him a hard time.

"You could talk to me," Sparks told me. I looked back at him, wondering what was wrong with him (maybe he swallowed too much salt water….?).

"I thought you didn't like to talk." I asked him.

"I don't like to talk to you, because you always yell at me and accuse me of stuff," Sparks started.

"I don't accuse you of anything. You just don't do things right so I correct you!" I told him, raising my voice.

"You just proved my point," Sparks said. "And I don't talk to Kayoka because all she does is moon over me,"  
"Yeah, that's getting old," I muttered.

"But I would talk if there was actually a decent conversation to be had," Sparks continued, ignoring my comment.

"You didn't talk when we were at Atana's house," I pointed out.

"That's because it smelled weird and I thought if I opened my mouth I would barf-"

"You didn't look sick," I put in. "And it didn't smell bad, it smelled like noodles."

"That's why I don't eat Ice Village noodles-"

"Any why were you acting all like 'I'm so cool'?"

"I wasn't acting all cool!" Sparks exclaimed.

"Yes you were," I insisted.

"That's how I normally am."

"So you are saying you are always cool?"

Sparks stopped talking. I turned around, thinking the conversation was over (I had totally won), when Sparks asked quietly, "So you think I'm arrogant?"

It took me awhile to figure out what he was saying (my mind was already on who-knows-what-else, and I had to back track to Sparks' words). For a moment I felt bad for Sparks. Then I decided that was stupid, because he _was_ arrogant, and then I stopped, because maybe he wasn't, I just made him out like that in my head to have a reason to dislike him (then I stopped thinking altogether because my head was starting to hurt).

After a while, Kayoka woke up. "Eww! Why are my feet all wet?" she exclaimed. Sparks answered.

"Because we are riding Juo."

"In the water?" Kayoka asked, awestruck. She looked over the side of Juo. "I think we should stop," she informed Sparks (I was pretending to be asleep).

"Why?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Because I have to pee," she told him.

Sparks closed his eyes for a second, probably wondering how to respond.

"TMI, but you are right (I pictured violently stabbing Sparks), we should stop. Except we don't have anywhere _to_ stop."

"No problem!" Kayoka said cheerily, holding up her hands. The water in front of Juo froze, and he ran into it with a beast-sized grunt. Sparks looked half startled, half impressed (I suppressed my impression. I had known Kayoka was a decent Waterbender- she got lessons from Matu's water master, Kulan- but I never thought she was _that_ good).

"Tana, wake up," Sparks said halfheartedly, jumping off Juo onto the ice. Kayoka followed, getting off and walking over to one side of the floating ice island. She got into her waterbending stance and bent water into a form on top of the ice with concentration, then froze it. She disappeared behind the form.

"Did she just…?" Sparks asked, gesturing to the ice formation.

"Yes, she did," I replied. Kayoka had evidently made an ice outhouse. Sparks and I each took a turn on the ice outhouse when Kayoka had returned. It was quite awkward, but for once I was glad to have her around. It would have been more awkward to go otherwise (For a second I contemplated methods of doing so).

"We might as well eat," Sparks told us when he came back. He went over to Juo, who was stretched across the ice, resting, and pulled a packet of meat out from one of the bags. Coming back over, he grabbed some out for himself and tossed the packet to me. I took some out, passing the rest to Kayoka, and was about to stuff it in my mouth when I saw Sparks toss his meat up into the air, shoot flame at it, and catch it again. Cooked meat was much better than raw meat, so I copied him. Kayoka looked at us expectantly.

"Oh come on," she said. "I made you guys a floating rest stop!"

Sparks grabbed the rest of the meat out of Kayoka's hands and cooked it. She snatched it back hungrily.

By the time I finished eating I had figured out what was wrong with the situation: Kayoka wasn't talking (but of course I didn't say anything to her about it, in case she _did_ start talking. Maybe she was just tired). Sparks went over to the outhouse and shot fire at it, melting it from the top down. "Why did you do that?" Kayoka asked him, seemingly hurt.

"To cover our trail," Sparks told her. "And because it would be really weird for someone if they found it." Kayoka giggled. She followed Sparks to Juo.

"Can I sit up front?" she asked. "Both of you have, so it's my turn." She looked at Sparks and me expectantly.

"Sure," Sparks grumbled, hoisting himself up to the middle seat. I got in the back.

"Why do we have to cover our trail?" Kayoka asked Sparks (she seemed more awake now). "There's nothing wrong with going to Ba Sing Se, is there? We have a letter."

"We don't want people to know where we are because they might try to attack us for supplies," Sparks explained.

"We could fight back though. We are all pretty good benders." I chimed in (I was picturing myself beating up a gang of grisly looking dudes, then standing on top of the pile of their bodies in triumph. Sparks and Kayoka were looking at me in awe as a crowd of spectators showered me in gifts).

"Tana," Sparks said disapprovingly. "We don't want to pick fights. It just causes trouble. You might not know since you have been living in the Southern Ice Villages, but people aren't exactly friendly."

"I know," I said unhappily (great way to start a morning, Sparks shooting down my dreams and telling me I'm ignorant). Sparks whistled and Juo jumped in the water. Kayoka let out a squeal as water landed on us.

"Can't he get in the water any neater?" I complained to Sparks.

"He could if you weren't on his back," Sparks replied. He quickly added, "You're too heavy," to stop me from complaining about why Juo hates me (which I would have).

"So you're calling me fat?" I asked, mocking outrage.

"No, no, no, I didn't mean it like that!" he tried to explain, but I ignored him. Sparks turned around to face front.

"Why aren't people friendly?" Kayoka asked after a minute of silence.

"Because it's hard times." Sparks told her.

"Why is it hard times?" Kayoka asked.

"There isn't a lot of order, so people can't get food and medicine and stuff," Sparks told her.

"Well why isn't there order?" Kayoka asked. Sparks was getting fed up now.

"I don't know!" he exclaimed.

"Kayoka, shut up," I said, worried that Sparks was going to burst into flames (I was sitting right behind him).

Kayoka shot a nasty look at me and whispered something to Sparks. I heard little snippets of his reply, something like, "Didn't mean…annoying… don't have a problem… like you." I wondered what they were talking about. Kayoka started to cry.

"You could just tell me if you hate me!" she said through the tears. "All you do is things behind my back, and it doesn't make me happy! If you just told people things once in a while, instead of letting them hear it on accident! I put myself out there, but you just complain about me behind your back to Tana (I was relieved she wasn't yelling at me. She looked on the verge of viciousness)! _You're_ the one who is annoying!" She faced forward, crying onto her mittens. I wasn't sure of the reason for the sudden outburst, but it was quite amusing.

Sparks looked back at me. "Can't you make her stop?" he pleaded.

"Nope," I said, grinning. "You're gonna have to sort this out on your own." Sparks made a grunt/growl sound and faced forward again (I refrained from laughing at him. He _really_ didn't know how to deal with people).

We had passed through the mountains, not stopping, and continued traveling throughout the day and night, stopping a couple times for bathroom breaks. Kayoka still wasn't talking to Sparks, so we rode in silence most of the time (she even tore down one of her ice outhouses with her bending during one of our breaks before Sparks got to use it. Sparks wasn't amused in the slightest).

Once or twice Sparks said something to me, but if he was expecting a reply, he wasn't going to get one. I was perfectly content on ignoring him. If I started talking to him, I would probably get roped into the drama between him and Kayoka. No way Jose.

The next morning I woke up very comfy, and for a minute I thought I was in my bed in Matu (the one in Atana's house, not in my igloo. Atana had way better furnishings than I did. She had offered me the bed I used at her house when I moved out, but I refused, determined to be independent. Nevertheless, I still slept at Atana's half the time). Then I realized that I was sleeping with my head rested against Sparks' back. He was sleeping how Kayoka had been the other day, with his head rested against his hands. Embarrassed and horrified, I promptly pulled myself off of Sparks and sat up straight. Sparks shifted in his sleep but did not wake.

Kayoka was awake, but she was preoccupied by singing quietly to herself, studying the map, which was placed with the bottom tucked under Juo's saddle, and carving sculptures out of ice with what looked to be Sparks' knife. I didn't want Kayoka to start talking to me, but I felt very awkward sitting there with no one knowing. Finally I pretended to sneeze.

"Oh Tana!" Kayoka exclaimed, dropping her ice sculpture and looking back at me. "I was hoping you would wake up soon, I need advice (why didn't I just pretend to sleep?)." Kayoka unstrapped herself and turned around in the saddle, so that she was riding Juo backwards (I wondered why she wasn't falling off. Even though it had been almost two days, I still couldn't get that hang of riding the beast). "I know that you talk to Sparks a lot (yeah, right), and he tells you things, and you know I like him, right (I remained expressionless)? So I was wondering if I was annoying like you guys said and if-"

"When did we say you were annoying?" I interrupted.

"The other morning when Sparks was telling you why he doesn't talk to us, and I was pretending to sleep. He said that I am always mooning over him. Is that true? How should I go about talking to him and not seem like I am mooning over him?" Kayoka looked at me, waiting for an answer. I wasn't inclined to give her one, but maybe, just maybe, if I told to stop talking, she would take my advice. I didn't want to miss the opportunity.

"Well, Kayoka, the truth is, you sort of act like a little girl," I began in the sweetest voice I could muster. "If you really want to talk to Sparks, you should act more mature, not flouncing around like an arctic hen. And you shouldn't talk as much. He gets annoyed with that. Just keep your distance."

"You really think so?" Kayoka asked hopefully.

"Yes, I do," I told her firmly. "Oh and you should try to hide the fact that you like Sparks at first. He gets scared by girls, so just talk to him like a friend," I added. I reached over Sparks and placed my hand on her shoulder. "You can do it," I told Kayoka, trying to sell it.

"Oh thank you, Tana!" Kayoka was positively beaming. "You are so good at giving advice. I'll try really hard to do what you say!" My hand slipped off Kayoka's shoulder and landed on Sparks head with a thump. He sat up at once, instinctively grabbing for his dagger, which wasn't there.

"What's going on?" he demanded Kayoka, whose face was now inches away from his own because of her backwards seating arrangement.

"Tana hit your head," she said simply, then giggled (maybe my trick wasn't going to work after all). Sparks grumbled and reached into the bag attached to the saddle on his left, pulling out a sack full of something. He reached into it and pulled out a handful of oval shaped nuts, then passed the bag to me.

"Why do you always get the first helping?" I complained while Sparks attempted to crack the shell of the nut without spilling the rest of the nuts in his hand. "For all we know you are taking more food than the rest of us."

"I take just as much nuts as you do," Sparks said. He put a nut in his mouth and bit down on it, which produced a sharp crack. "Ouch!" Sparks exclaimed, spitting out the nut, which was still whole. He thrust his handful of nuts at me, then stuck his hand in his mouth, grimacing. He pulled his hand back out, holding a little white chunk of what I assumed was a tooth.

Kayoka looked at him with concern. "Is that your tooth?" she asked in disbelief.

"A piece of it," Sparks replied, his face screwed up in pain. "Dammit that hurts!"

"I could try to heal it," Kayoka told him.

"How?" Sparks asked her, trying not to move his mouth.

"I can heal people with my waterbending, didn't you know that" Sparks shook his head. I sat behind him, trying to calculate Kayoka's improvement since I had given her advice (the advice seemed to be turning out to be legit, because Sparks looked like he was taking Kayoka sseriously. OR maybe he just wanted his mouth fixed). "It might be a bit strange to do it in your mouth, but no worries," she told him brightly. She bent up some ocean water, but Sparks moved his head backwards, hitting me in my chin. "Ouch!" I exclaimed.

"Sorry, but wouldn't it be better to use clean water?" Sparks asked through gritted teeth.

"No, the salt water should be good for it. Open up." Sparks did as Kayoka said, and she the water into his mouth. She swirled her hands around, and the water glowed faintly. After a couple seconds, Kayoka pulled the water out and flung it back into the ocean. "Better?" she asked.

Sparks moved his tongue around his mouth, testing his tooth. "Yeah, thanks," he told her. "Don't try to open the nuts with your teeth," he advised. Kayoka opened her mouth to say something, but clamped it back shut.

We went back to eating the nuts, seeing who could throw the shell the farthest into the ocean (it was actually Kayoka's idea, but it ended up being quite fun). "What's that?" Sparks asked, pointing to the horizon in front of us. There was a gray mass directly in front of Juo, getting bigger.

"A ship?" I guessed. "I don't know why it would be here though,"

"Well, we are in the ocean," Sparks pointed out.

"Very funny, but I wasn't asking for a smart-alec replies." The ship was getting bigger very fast.

"It's probably just delivering supplies to the Ice Villages." Sparks reasoned.

"Matu doesn't get supplies from ships," Kayoka pointed out.

"It could be delivering supplies to one of the other villages," Sparks offered.

"But why would it be on this side of the mountains?" I asked. Sparks reached around Kayoka and grabbed the map out from under Juo's saddle. "Siku is all the way on the other side of the continent, along with all of the other big Ice Villages that get shipments." The ship was clearly visible now.

"What kind of ship is that?" Kayoka asked in awe. The ship had a big flat deck that was filled with big box-like containers. There was a smaller deck above that one towards the back of the ship, which had a cabin in the middle of it. There were no sails or smokestacks that were found on the kinds of ships Kayoka and I had ever seen (I had actually gotten to the south pole lodged between to boxes in a hull of a sailboat).

"That's a cargo ship." Sparks looked at both of us before continuing. "Seems suspicious."

"Sure does!" Kayoka agreed. I don't think she understood what was going on.

"Do you think it's headed for Matu?" I asked Sparks.

He shook his head. "We better get out of the way, though, or it will plow us over." He whistled and nudged Juo in the side with his heel. Juo turned and sped in the other direction. Kayoka, being not properly strapped in, almost fell off (I almost fell off too, but the saddle straps held me in place). Sparks grabbed her. She went to turn around to sit in the saddle properly, but Sparks held her wrists. "No, don't. We don't have time, and Juo's going too fast. Just hold on." Kayoka nodded.

We had just cleared the ship before it sped past us. I heard some yelling on the ship, and heard a grinding noise. "I think they are stopping."

"Yeah, that's not good," Sparks muttered. He kicked Juo harder, urging him to speed up. I could hear the noise from the engines die down. Sparks looked over his shoulder at the boat. "I hope they aren't dangerous, because they are following us."

Sure enough, they had deployed little boats that were now speeding toward us. "You think we can take them?" I asked.

"Probably not. We'll just have counter their strength with strategy," Sparks replied.

"Well what _is_ our strategy?" I asked.

"They won't be expecting firebenders this far south, especially you Tana. Kayoka, you are going to need to attack first. I'll try to sneak behind them, and me and Tana will catch them off guard. Then you, Kayoka, can hold off the front until Tana and I get them, and then we'll all go. Happy?" Sparks halted Juo and unstrapped himself. I did the same.

As the boats approached, Kayoka pulled up a big wall of water and froze it. The first boat slammed into it, but the second swerved around it. The first boat didn't seem too damaged though.

"Kayoka, make the biggest ice island you can, we don't have any advantage over the boats while we are on Juo's back!" Sparks instructed. Kayoka nodded, and a thick sheet of ice rose from beneath them. We all leapt off on Juo onto the ice. The second boat reached the ice, and its passengers got onto the ice as well. They were all decked out in metal-studded leather armor, and they all looked quite buff. The biggest one stepped forward and shot a cannon of water at the three of us, but Kayoka turned it to ice, and it fell with a thud to the ground. Sparks motioned for me to inch my way around the island to the back of the attackers.

Kayoka was doing impressively well, blocking all of the attacks (all of the attackers seemed to be waterbenders), while getting in a few offensive blows herself. A particularly well aimed one hit the biggest waterbender in the chest, knocking him down and almost off the ice. I looked at Sparks (we had almost reached the back of the ice, unnoticed. Kayoka had the attackers' full attention). Sparks nodded and we shot fire simultaneously at the back of the attackers. They yelped in surprise and turned around. Kayoka took the moment to wrap a tendril of water around one of the attacker's ankles, pulling his leg out from under him. His head hit the ice with a sickening thud.

The other two attackers didn't know where to look, and moved back to back so the biggest one was facing Sparks and I , the other facing Kayoka. I shot fire relentlessly at the waterbender, but Sparks attacked more strategically. He shot fire with one hand towards the attackers face, and when the waterbender went to block it, Sparks shot fire at the waterbender's feet. I wondered what Sparks was trying to do until I noticed the large puddle that had formed at the attacker's feet. I looked over and caught Sparks eye. He motioned towards the attacker with a slight jerk of the head before blocking an attack, turning a wave of water into steam. I looked back at Sparks and nodded.

"On three," he yelled. "One, two, THREE!" We both shot fire at the attacker's feet; my slightly blue fire mingling with Sparks', which was throwing off sparks wildly. The ice under the attacker broke, and he plunged into the cold water. Kayoka ran up, leaving her attacker unconscious on the ground, and replaced the ice where it had broken away. I could see the body of the attacker up against the ice, but after a moment he sunk back down into the ocean.

"Is he…?" Sparks started.

"No I don't think. He probably made a water bubble and is retreating to the ship," Kayoka answered. She seemed like a totally different person. She had handled herself really well in the battle, and was much more serious and mature, not at all like the Kayoka I knew. It seemed like she had been battling her whole life, despite this being her first. I was wondering if her new persona was because of my advice, or if she had had it in her the whole time.

"What about that one?" I asked, gesturing to the one that was lying on the ice on the other side of the ice.

"I don't think that one will be waking up anytime soon," Kayoka said gravely. Sparks too seemed slightly perturbed by Kayoka's personality change. Kayoka looked up, and her eyes widened. "They've got Juo!" she shrieked. I spun around and found that the first boat had detached itself from the wall of ice (the wall was gone), and was dragging Juo away, bound in ropes.

"NO!" yelled Sparks. He ran to the edge of the ice island, and was about to jump in when Kayoka stopped him.

"Wait!" she said. Kayoka stuck out her hands and the chunk of ice that Sparks was standing on Cracked away from the rest of the island. "Tana, get on!" she called, and we all loaded onto the ice raft. The raft rocketed away from the ice island.

We followed the boat to the ship's hull, but by the time we got there, the small boat was docked and Juo was nowhere to be seen.

"How do we get in?" I asked.

"I don't see any doors," Sparks said.

"Hold on," Kayoka instructed, and then shot the raft up into the air. We all were flung onto the deck of the ship, on top of a stack of shipping containers. "OW!" Kayoka exclaimed when we landed. "I broke a nail! Maybe that wasn't the smartest idea (she seemed more normal now)."

"Yeah, you're right (this time I mentally awarded Sparks for agreeing with her)," Sparks panted. "How are we going to get down from here?" The shipping containers were stacked four boxes high (about five of me tall). If we jumped down we would probably break something.

"Run along the top!" Kayoka suggested. We took off across the top of the containers, bound for the upper deck of the ship. It was about the same height as the boxes, so we would be able to jump down and get inside the ship. They probably had Juo in the bottom of the ship; there would be a door that the attackers could've gotten to easily from the water's surface. Sparks jumped down onto the upper deck, but I hesitated (I'm not very good with heights).

"Come on!" Sparks yelled. Kayoka grabbed my hand and jumped down, pulling me with her. I wasn't prepared, and landed sideways on my ankle. Sparks noticed my awkward landing. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think," I replied, rotating my foot.

"Good. Follow me." Sparks snuck toward the captain's cabin. "Kayoka, stay behind Tana," he whispered. The door to the cabin squeaked, and we all cringed. "Come on," Sparks said.

The inside of the cabin was filled with wrinkled maps and sea gadgets. The words Ba Sing Se caught my eyes on one of the maps and I snatched it, stuffing it down the top of my parka. Sparks didn't notice, and continued through the room (Kayoka might have noticed, but she didn't say anything. The map might be handy later). Between two shelves full sea books was a thick metal door, one of the ones that have the wheel in the middle that you have to spin to open. Sparks attempted to open it, but couldn't get the wheel to budge. I grabbed one of the wheels spokes and pulled it around- it opened easily. I cast Sparks an evil grin, but he ignored me, pushing past and through the door.

Down a creaky set of metal stairs was a long passageway. "We need to be lower," Sparks said. "Check for another flight of steps.

"There's a ladder over there," I said, indicating the wall behind the steps. The ladder ran down into hole in the floor to the level below.

"Let's go. Tana, you lead." Sparks said.

"You scared?"' I asked (_I _was scared).

"Just go." Sparks said. I climbed down the ladder to find a dimly lit corridor with doors on either side. At the end of the corridor was a large metal door with another wheel hatch. There was a pool of water under the door.

"I think we are in the right spot," I called up to the others. They hurried down into the corridor. "Which door do you think Juo is in?" I asked.

"I think the last one looks the biggest," Kayoka said (I was thinking I was wrong about Kayoka being normal).

"Let's try it." Sparks pushed past me and led the way down the hall (I guess he didn't want me to lead after all). He kicked the door open and rushed into the room. I could hear yelling, but couldn't see anything except for a mass of flame surrounding Sparks, who was just past the doorway.

An alarm sounded, and a red flash illuminated the corridor. Men burst out of the doors behind us, yelling. Kayoka whipped the puddle under the door at them, but they repelled the attack. "Open the big door!" she screamed at me, struggling to hold back the men. I ran over to the door. The wheel was much harder to open than the last one. As soon as the door unlatched, it swung open and a torrent of water gushed into the corridor. I was swept down the corridor and into the arms of the big man that attacked us earlier. He grabbed me around the torso, pinning my arms to my side. I struggled to get out of his grasp, but he pulled me down the flooded passageway and into a dark room. My head hit on something just through the doorway, and I was knocked unconscious.

**TADA! First cliff-hanger!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA or LOK. **

**If anyone has an idea for a good title for this fic, please tell me in a review or PM me, because I suck at titles, and there are a ton of fics with very similar names (all romance stories .).**

**Check out my deviantART, ** **(MinimusAstrum),** **there are drawings and a map pertaining to this story.**

**REVIEW!**


	5. 4: Survival

**A/N: I'm not sure why I was calling the hallway/passageway a corridor in the last chapter. Probably form reading too much Harry Potter. Hats (wHATevS).**

**Air, Water, Earth, Fire**

**Book 1: Air**

**Chapter 4: Survival **

Kayoka prodded me awake. She was sitting beside me cross-legged. "Where am I?" I asked her.

"We are locked up in the bowels of the dreadful ship that crossed our path yesterday morn'," She answered in a pirate-like voice (I wasn't sure why she was so cheerful, even factoring in that she _was_ Kayoka_._ I hoped we weren't drugged). We were in a metal cage of sorts, barely big enough to fit me lying down. The room was bare except for a matching cage on the opposite wall.

"Wonderful," I said as sarcastic as I could manage. The back of my head still hurt where I had hit it yesterday. "Wait, I've been out for a whole day?"

"Day and a half." Kayoka had dropped the pirate voice, but was as cheery as ever.

"Where's Sparks?" I asked. Last I had seen he had been fighting some of the 'bad guys', looking for Juo.

"I don't know. I froze the waterbenders, but when I followed the guy who took you, they shoved me in here too (I almost face-palmed, but didn't on account of my throbbing head)."

I stood up and grabbed onto the metal bars of the cage. "How are we going to get out of here?" I asked.

"Beats me. I already tried to cut the bars with a waterbending slice. And you fried them too, when you sneezed in your sleep." Kayoka pointed to the bottom of one of the bars, which was blackened (I admit I blushed a bit from embarrassment. Self, how dare you get embarrassed!). "It didn't weaken it at all. I think it had something to do with the coating. See the glossiness? I think that makes the metal more strong (Kayoka was being serious again. I like her better when she is serious)."

"You said we are on the bottom of the ship?" I asked.

"Yeah, I could feel the water underneath of us. But the floor is coated by the same stuff." Kayoka's eyes got wide. "I can't feel the water anymore!"

"Are you sure? Check again."

"I'm positive. We must be on land somehow."

"I've heard of boats that do that, like a duck or something. Too bad we don't have an earthbender." There didn't seem any way to get out of the cell. I sat down (a little too hard), exasperated.

"I never thought that I would get into danger like this." Kayoka started. I willed it not to be one of her ever-so-annoying rants. Too bad it was. "I mean, I knew that it would be dangerous, three kids traveling to Ba Sing Se, which of course is a no-bending city. So that's dangerous, because we might get caught for being benders, but if there is a Metalbender who called us in, so I guess he would get in trouble first. Maybe he is in charge of the city now." She paused to think for a second. "Sparks didn't notice I wasn't talking as much. I don't think your advice was very good. Though I don't blame you, you never claimed to be good at advice. You know, sometimes I think that you and Sparks don't think that I am capable of much. You both seemed surprised that I could handle my own when the men were attacking us. I suppose it's my father's fault, he didn't want the villagers to know that his daughter wasn't a perfect little princess. He always yelled at me when I practiced bending in front of others, and never bought me anything but girly clothes, and sort of forced me into a personality that I wasn't, and over time I sort of became that person, and since I wasn't able to express myself physically I would just talk and talk and talk to try to get people to know who I am, but eventually I wasn't who I thought I was anymore, because I had changed into what my father's vision of a perfect daughter was, and so all I had left was talking and so I hung onto that and I never became mature like other teens on the outside, but on the inside deep down I was still who I was meant to be, and I guess being in a dangerous situation where that person was needed helped my true self come out."

"You still talk a lot," I pointed out (I only heard about every third word of her speech, but I had gotten the gist of it: she wasn't annoying, then her dad forced her into being annoying, but underneath she wasn't annoying, and then she became not annoying). "Why didn't you just not listen to your dad?" I asked.

"He was, well, still is, in charge of like, the whole village basically, and the village always listened to what he said and no one really argued with him except the Council, and they had even more authority than himself, so I never felt like I could speak out against him because the rest of the village didn't."

"Do you want to know why I am like how I am?" I asked before I could even think about the words that were coming out of my mouth (not that I would take them back). "I grew up not even knowing what parents were. I was all alone. Everyone else was an enemy. The only thing I did was struggle to live another day. And here I am!"

Kayoka looked dumb struck. "That's not funny," She said after a moment (I sure thought it was). "I didn't tell you all of that because I thought I had the worst childhood ever. I'm sure tons of people have stories just like mine and yours. You shouldn't joke about those kinds of things."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry (I wasn't. Couldn't she tale a joke? One minute she was acting silly, the next serious, then she's talking a mile a minute, then she's being ethical. Kayoka changed personalities _way_ too much)."

Just then the door opened, filling the room with blinding light. "You've been given your stuff back. Or what's left of it." The man laughed, almost maniacally. It was creepy. My eyes readjusted to see the big man who had attacked us and carried me away. His smile revealed swollen gums with little brown nubs poking through. It was a wonder he could talk. "Why are you just letting us go?" I asked.

"We _have_ everything we want." He replied. He opened a panel on the wall and flipped a switch. One side of the cage swung open. Wonder Man chucked our packs to us. They were considerably lighter. "Take your filthy stuff back," he snarled. He grabbed both us forcefully by our arms and dragged us out of the room we were in and into the hallway. At the end was a door similar to the one up above. The only difference was out the door was sand as far as you could see instead of ocean. "Get out of the WALV and we won't have a problem," Wonder Man sneered. He shoved us in the direction of the door. Kayoka looked at me. I nodded to her slightly, and we both proceeded out of the door. It was only a small jump to the hard packed sand below.

Just as I was about to jump, Kayoka said to Wonder Man, "What about our friend?"

"What friend?" Wonder Man barked.

"Our boy friend," she said sternly (I almost fell out of the 'WALV'). "We aren't leaving until he's free too."

"You think you can stop me from shoving you out that hole? Ha! You don't even have any water to bend!"

"Just as much as you do!" Kayoka countered. The man stepped toward us, but was interrupted by a loud bang and yelling form above. The red light began flashing in the hall again.

"Stop him! They are getting away!" I heard.

"That's our cue," I told Wonder Man. "See ya!" Kayoka and I simultaneously leaped out of the WALV. With a thud Juo landed beside us on the sand with Sparks on his back.

"Hurry! Get on!" Sparks commanded. We scrambled onto the otter's back as Juo began to sprint away from the WALV. I looked back at the boat-tank. It didn't seem to be following us.

Juo ran as far as he could before he got too tired. He slowed to a walking pace. In front of me Kayoka was huffing and puffing as well. "I think we'd better stop," I called to Sparks. He halted Juo.

Kayoka looked as if she was suffering from heat stroke. She probably was, with her heavy furs on. I felt like I was trapped in an oven. We all got of Juo, who immediately collapsed, and began to shed clothes. I took off my parka and heavy pants to reveal my under-tunic and leggings. But my tunic was too hot as well, so striped down to just the tank top underneath (besides my undergarments and leggings).

Kayoka was now in a cotton blouse and leggings. Sparks had taken off his jacket and 'ski' pants so he was wearing jeans and a tee shirt. He hadn't been dressed all that warmly to begin with, so naturally he was the first one done shedding clothes. He laced up his combat boots and proceeded to stare at me and Kayoka. "Stop staring at us!" I yelled as soon as I noticed. Sparks grunted and turned away.

Kayoka rummaged through her bag. "No!" she cried. "They took my shoes! What am I going to wear?"

"Your boots?" I suggested, slipping on my own.

"But I'll sweat and ruin the fur!" Kayoka looked on the verge of tears.

"Your feet won't sweat any more than they normally do. Just put on your boots so we can get going," I told her.

"No." she pouted. "I'm not going anywhere until I get my shoes!" I looked up at the sun. It was setting fast. "Kayoka, stop throwing a fit. We need to get going and find a safe place to stay."

"I'd rather get eaten by a Rhinoceros Beetle," Kayoka replied.

"A what?" I asked. "Oh never mind."

"You guys done yet?" Sparks called from behind Juo.

"As done as we are going to get, _apparently_," I told him, staring daggers at Kayoka.

Sparks came over with his face buried in what looked to be a map. It was different that the map we had been using before, not as yellow and creased.

"Where did you get _that_?" I asked.

"Took it from the map room," he mumbled, not lifting his gaze from the paper.

"Didn't they find it when they searched you?" Kayoka asked, now done throwing a temper tantrum. I went over and grabbed the map out of Sparks' hands. It was one of the whole world like our old one, but it was much more detailed in the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation Islands.

"We were searched?" I asked the same time Sparks told me "Give it back," referring to the map. I elbowed him in the ribs. He stomped away clutching his side (I didn't hit him that hard). I remembered the map of Ba Sing Se I had borrowed (stole). I had tucked it inside of my parka. The men must have taken it back. Shame.

"Yeah," Kayoka replied, bringing me back to reality. "Before they locked us up."

"But Sparks wasn't locked up with us," I pointed out.

"I was locked up," Sparks said. "They had that big waterbender watching me."

"The one without teeth?" I asked. "He has a name, you know."

"When did he tell you his name?" Kayoka asked, puzzled.

"He didn't," I replied.

"Well then how do you know?" Kayoka questioned innocently.

"I made it up: Wonder Man."

"_Why_?" Sparks asked.

"Well (I almost burst out laughing here. I crack myself up sometimes), it's a _wonder_ he can talk!" Sparks stared at me blankly and Kayoka looked confused. "Get it? Because he has no teeth?" Kayoka burst out laughing and commented, "Haha, that's a good one, Tana!" Sparks just kept staring (he was staring a lot lately. Maybe he broke his eyes. Or his brain).

After Kayoka recovered, she asked Sparks, "How didn't they find the map?"

"They didn't look where I hid it," he said smugly, staring at me (what was with the staring?). I realized the horrors that this map had probably been in contact with.

"Eww, yeah, you can have the map," I said, thrusting the map back into Sparks.

Kayoka took a second to realize what was going on. "Are you for real?" she asked Sparks in dismay.

"I still have the map, don't I?" A smile spread across Spark's face. I had never seen him smile before. It seemed that he was warming up to Kayoka (I don't even know if that is possible) and me. The first night we were all together at Atana's house, he didn't want anything to do with us. He just sat against the wall until he could find an excuse to leave. Now he was messing around with us. Amazing what a couple of days stuck on the back of lion otter could do for a person (although I suppose Sparks has spent many more days on Juo's back than me and Kayoka).

Speaking of the beast, he was currently flipping sand around, trying to give himself a dust bath, which led discussion back to our current problem (not the fact that I could no longer possess our map).

"Anyways, I think we are about here." Sparks put his finger on the edge of the Si Wong Desert. "If we go north around the edge of the desert, we can get to Full Moon Bay and then swim the rest of the way to Ba Sing Se."

"Whatever," I said. I was more concerned with the growing pain in my stomach than where we were going. "We need to eat, I'm hungry."

"Of course, O Great One," Sparks replied.

"We don't have any food though," Kayoka said.

"WHAT?" Sparks and I both shouted together.

"They took pretty much all our stuff." My hunger became ten times worse.

"We are in the middle of the desert," I moaned. "Where are we going to find food?" I looked around but saw nothing but hills of sand.

"I don't know," Sparks said. "Let's just get moving. Maybe we will find something along the way."

"Like sand" I asked.

"You know," Kayoka chimed in, "Babies sometimes eat sand. My father told me a story about when he was a little kid and he went to a beach. He ate the sand, and was pooping it out for days. It was a funny story, but eating sand is like eating rocks. I expect it would be painful. Plus there is no nutritional value from eating rocks."

"Kayoka, shut up," I said. I went to get on Juo's back.

"We can't ride Juo, he's too tired to carry anyone," Sparks said.

I stopped mid stride. "Why does the world hate me?" I asked to no one in particular. The good feeling (if you could call it that) from before when we were joking around was gone. I knew that going on this journey was a bad idea. It was all Atana's fault.

"It hates me too, trust me," Kayoka said. "I don't have any shoes and we have to walk through the desert."

"I told you to wear your boots."

"But they will get ruined!" Kayoka wined.

"Mine aren't ruined," I told her.

"They are practically falling apart! And they weren't as expensive as mine. If my father found out I ruined my boots…"

"Your father sent you on this trip! It's his fault your boots will be ruined!" I told Kayoka.

"I begged my father to let me come!" Kayoka shouted at me. "You're the one who didn't want to come!"

"You're right, I didn't want to come!" I shouted back.

"Well maybe you should leave!" Kayoka said.

"Fine, I will, since you can't put up with me. Your just too much of a _princess_ to be bothered with a peasant like me!"

"_I _can't put up with _you_? You're the one who is always telling me to shut up!" Sparks was looking at us with dismay.

"Only because you are annoying!" I said.

"Why can't you tolerate _anything_?"

"We'll see who can tolerate more!" I stepped towards Kayoka with my fist raised.

"STOP!" Sparks roared. He shot a beam of flame between the two of us. The sparks stung my face. "I know this sucks, but we have to keep it together or we'll never make it through this desert. Now both of you, walk." I hung my head and began to walk north, but Kayoka stayed put.

"I can't walk in my boots," Kayoka said stubbornly.

"I understand that," Sparks said patiently, "Walk in your bare feet if you want. It's almost night. The sand won't be that hot."

"Okay," Kayoka said, following me. Sparks whistled to Juo to follow, and we all started the hike out of the desert.

We walked until sunrise before Sparks told us to stop (I had been ready to quit hours ago, but I was still in obedience mode). I immediately collapsed on the ground and fell asleep.

What felt like minutes later Sparks prodded me awake. Kayoka was still asleep.

"Whaaaaaat?" I asked. I wiped my face with my hand and sat up.

"I'm going to look for supplies," Sparks whispered. "If Kayoka wakes up, tell her. Don't fight."

"Mmhmm," I said, already curling back up to sleep.

It was around dusk when Sparks woke me up again. He had a handful of weird fruit things.

"It's cactus fruit," he said. "Eat it.

"No, we should save it," I said. My mind flashed back to when I was little. Then I had only eaten when I could find food. Which wasn't very often.

"You have to eat," Sparks said. He sat down on the ground beside me. Normally the closeness would have unnerved me, but right then I was sort of glad for it. My mind was still on the past.

Sparks handed me a fruit. It was pink and round with little spines sticking out of it. They poked my skin but didn't puncture it. I rolled the little fruit around in my palm, but didn't eat it. Sparks turned to look straight into my eyes. It wasn't his normal 'you must obey me' look. It was a calming look. "Please eat," he said.

I closed my hand around the fruit. "No, we are going to want this later."

"You said you were hungry, and that was almost a day ago. Eat it." Sparks was still calm, but more assertive.

"You eat when your body needs it, not your mind," I told him. "If you find food you save it until you _have_ to eat, because your next meal might be days away." I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying. I used to repeat that to myself over and over whenever food was scarce. It didn't help with the hunger, but it did remind me that I couldn't give in. To give in was to give up. That's another thing I always used to say. Now, stuck in the desert with no food, all the hopeless feelings from when I was little were rushing back.

"It won't take that long to get out of the desert," Sparks said, becoming confused. "What's with you?"

"Nothing." Sparks raised his eyebrows. He knew something was bothering me (something _emotional_. Me showing signs of emotion was probably new to Sparks, being annoyed at Kayoka not included. Well, I hadn't seen much emotion from Sparks either, so ditto there). "It's just that being stuck without any food or water has made me remember the past. I used to go days without food (was I actually confiding in Sparks? The only other person I had ever told about my past was Atana, and only because she weaseled it out of me. My past isn't a time I like to remember)."

Sparks looked sympathetic. And for some god unknown reason, I began to cry. It started out just as tears, but formed into sobs. Sparks placed my head on his shoulder and hugged me as I sobbed into his shirt. I couldn't stop crying either. It must have been minutes. Sparks just let me cry on him, holding me tight.

Finally the tears stopped coming. Sparks pulled me off of him. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. I wiped the tears off my face. The shoulder of Spark's shirt was soaked. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay to cry. It's what makes us strong." Sparks smiled at me. I smiled weakly back. "I'll save the fruit, ok?"

"Ok," I said, handing him the fruit back. "It's dark, we better get going."

"Yeah, I'll wake Kayoka." Sparks stood up and stuck a hand out at me. I grabbed it and he pulled me off the sand.

He was almost to where Kayoka lay when I said, "Hey Sparks?"

"Huh?" he replied.

"Thanks."

Sparks smiled again. "It's my job." He turned around and bent over Kayoka, leaving me to wonder why people said weird things. He was probably dehydrated. I probably was too, after all the crying. I paced around our camp. Water, water, we all really needed water. My head started to hurt, a sure sign of dehydration. The ground started to move. In the distance I heard Sparks telling Kayoka something. Better not be secrets, I thought. But thinking was what water was for. Kayoka never thought, but she was a waterbender. Nothing made sense. I was losing my mind.

Kayoka was a waterbender! She could bend water out of the ground! I ran over to where Kayoka and Sparks were standing. They were talking about something, but water was more important.

"Bend water out of the ground!" I practically screamed at her. She stood there, shocked.

"Tana, you're a genius!" Sparks said. "Kayoka, use waterbending to get water out of the ground." He repeated to Kayoka.

"I haven't been able to feel any water sense we got dropped off by those thugs," she said. "Not even a drop."

"Oh just do it." I said, flopping to the ground. "It's like a million degrees here (I wasn't sure how Sparks was still wearing pants. Then again, I was glad he kept them on)." Sparks looked slightly disconcerted by my sudden change in behavior.

"Kayoka, I know deserts are called so because they don't have any water, but we are all becoming dehydrated, and if we don't get water soon we are _all_ going to go insane."

Kayoka looked at me rolling on the ground. "Okay, I'll try." She began to move her hands up in down at the grounds, willing water to come up. Finally, she extracted a tiny stream of liquid. I leapt at it (everyone says I looked rabid. I say not), and the stream broke and fell back to the ground. The sand soaked it up hungrily.

"Tana!" Sparks barked. I sat in obedience.

"It's okay," Kayoka said. She pulled the water back out of the ground. "I need a container to put this in." Sparks told me to stay (Kayoka laughed and almost dropped the water again) and ran to his bag attached to the side of Juo's saddle. It seemed to have a lot more stuff in it than my bag, either because he stole it back or because he had a lot of worthless stuff. He produced a flattened paper cup. He pulled it back to shape and held it out for Kayoka.

"Ew! How long has that been in there?" Kayoka asked in dismay.

"Do you have anything better?" Sparks asked. Kayoka grumbled and put the water in the cup. He bent down an offered me the cup. "Drink," he ordered.

"Poison!" I shrieked, thrashing on the sand. He knelt on my stomach, pinning me down.

"Its water," he informed me.

"Oh, okay, I'll have some then." I grabbed the cup and poured the water down my throat.

"We're going to need more water," Sparks said, talking the cup from me.

"On it," Kayoka said through clenched teeth. She pulled up another tendril of water and put it into the cup.

Kayoka continued to pull up water and we continued to drink it until we each had our fill. Sparks shoved the cup back into his bag.

"Too bad we don't have any food," Kayoka said. Sparks pulled out a piece of fruit and tossed it at Kayoka. She caught it, looked at it, dropped it, and then asked, "How long has that _been_ in there?"

"An hour," Sparks replied.

"Oh." Kayoka picked off the spines using her nails and bit into the fruit. "Mmm," she said, popping the rest into her mouth. "Got any more of those?" she asked.

We all ended up eating the fruit (I got the feeling that I used to get all the time when eating something when extremely hungry. I couldn't think of anything that I had eaten that was sweeter than this), Sparks eyeing me the whole time. There was an odd fruit out, so Sparks got out his knife and sliced it into thirds. "You sure that was clean?" Kayoka said, already eating the slice of fruit. Sparks ignored her (I think he was tired of her comments about his personal hygiene).

We sat around for a while, not really saying anything. "We should get going now," I said. Sparks checked the sky and agreed. It was as dark as it was going to get with a full moon. We had walked an hour or so before Kayoka started to complain.

"My feet hurt, the sand is rubbing them raw."

"Deal with it," I snapped. I wasn't in a particularly good state myself. Kayoka made a sound of protest, but Sparks cut her off.

"None of us are very happy right now. We can all agree on that, right?" He waited for our answers. Kayoka grunted something. "Well?" Sparks asked. Kayoka and I grudgingly agreed. "We just have to put our differences aside until we make it out of here and find some real food and shelter. Got it?"

"So you're saying once we are out of the desert we can fight?" I asked.

"You get a choice. Fighting or food, water, shelter, and a bath." Sparks answered. He knew that by the time we made it out of this hellhole I would take the latter option.

Awhile later, Kayoka commented, "Walking is so boring."

"Well we don't have a choice, now do we?" Sparks snapped. The desert was even making Sparks lose his cool. We were all silent after that. I concentrated on my breathing. Two strides inhale, two strides exhale.

Kayoka collapsed first. We had been walking single file, and Sparks fell on top of her. He didn't bother moving.

"I guess this is camp," I said. Juo curled up next to me, and we both fell asleep.

I could feel Sparks' gaze before I opened my eyes. "Hey," he said. He sat down next to me against Juo's side. I had a feeling where this was going. "Do you want to talk?" he asked, wearing the same face he had worn earlier, right before I cried all over him.

I sat up. The sun was directly overhead. "No," I said.

"Well, I was just thinking th-"

"You know, this is why I don't tell people things!" I interrupted. "Because if you open up, people think they need to take care of you. I don't need anyone to take care of me!"

Sparks looked hurt. He seemed like he was the one going to cry this time. Instead he got up saying, "Fine." He stomped away and sat down on the other side of Kayoka, whose sleeping body was now like a wall between us. He put his head between his knees, but he did not show signs of crying. Believe me, I watched for long enough.

It was too hot for me to fall back asleep. Instead I racked up the courage to take a look at the map. I couldn't tell how far we had made it through the desert, but the desert was pretty close to Ba Sing Se. From Full Moon Bay it was probably a day's worth on Juo.

Our journey was almost over.

If we could make it out of the desert.

Thinking back, Sparks was doing a pretty good job of ensuring that.

I'm glad he was with us.

**Well, I finished it. **

**I don't have an excuse for taking so long.**

**I make no promises anymore.**

**There was quite a lot of possible shipping in this chapter, but it had to happen at some point. I stick true to the prologue though. Permanent friend zone for Sparks and Tana. Or should I say Stana. Or Spana. Or Tarks. I'm having too much fun.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA or LOK.**

**I came up with a new title (thanks for no help), ****Sparks the Avatar****. I'm still not sure, but I might change it. Just a heads up.**

**Check out my deviantART, ** **(MinimusAstrum),** **there are drawings and a map pertaining to this story.**

**Review if you're not lazy like me!**


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